Eugene Pro Rodeo

The Eugene Pro Rodeo finally came! It seemed like I had been waiting for years for it! We had an extremely successful rodeo July 1-4. The rodeo even sold out on the 4th of July! It was an incredible experience.

First of all, Guaranty of Junction City lent me an amazing RV to stay in over the course of the rodeo which definitly made me feel like royalty.

 I had a great time "people-watching" out of it while I was waiting to start getting ready. I especially enjoyed the man who parked in front of it on July 3rd and set his car alarm off at 2 am. Yay for no sleeping!

Anyway, I had the time of my life. Thank you to all of the visiting royalty that came like the Cottage Grove Court; Philomath Frolic Queen, Sarah McRae; the South Douglas Queen; the Sutherlin Stampede Queen, Annie Lee; Miss Rodeo Oregon; Miss Rodeo Washington: Miss NPRA; the Yoncalla Queen; the Sweet Home Queen; and the Benton County Queen. I'm sure there were more girls, but at the moment I a drawing a blank.

 The first night of the rodeo, July 1st, was Tough Enough To Wear Pink night in support of breast cancer awareness and the race for the cure on 10-10-10 later this year. I also got to do my first TV interview with KEZI which was terrifying but totally worth it! The weather started to sprinkle on us and got everything a little damp during the pre-rodeo activities, but all it did was kill the dust and thanks to our dedicated rodeo fans, we had a great opening night.                  

On July 3rd I headed down to Yoncalla for their parade and saw a lot of the other queens that I had seen at my rodeo! Somehow we all ended up taking first place in the parade (??  lol) I had a great time while I was there and decided to head back up to Eugene before Yoncalla's rodeo actually kicked off.

And then the Fourth Of July!

My morning began in Creswell, OR for their 4th of July Parade! I was very excited to be doing a semi-local parade since I knew some people I saw on the route. Unfortunately, Jessica Marshal, a friend and the Cottage Grove Sr. Queen, had an accident with her horse and after some of the most impressive moves I've seen a horse do in a while, Jessica needed to sit out on the parade and the rodeo that night in order to be good to go for her own rodeo a week away. I'm very glad she is doing well! Well, after the parade, I headed back to Eugene for our heart-pounding Firecracker Bullride ironically sponsored by Oregon Oral and Facial Surgeons! The company had a dinner at our rodeo and I was very glad to go in and meet a couple of the doctors and other staff and family. The rodeo sold out about 20 minutes into the rodeo and the weather was PERFECT. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to work cattle on the 4th, but I had plenty of action. I got the chance to do some give-aways in the middle of the arena on the mic and for any of you that know me, you'll know that it was a huge step out of my comfort zone! But I got through it, gave away some awesome gifts from our sponsors, and came out wanting to do it again.

I had the time of my life at the rodeo this year and got to see a lot of good friends and make some new ones. None of it could have been possible without the help from our generous sponsors like BiMart, Pepsi, Jerry's and many, many more. The other people that need a GIANT pat on the back are our rodeo volunteers and coordinators. Larry Von Moos does some amazing things to keep our rodeo running smoothly, Lisa Johnson kept our gate open and running like clock-work, and all of our arena crew and behind the scenes people. My best friend was even out there un-tying calfs during tie-down and coordinating the 14-20 Dance. Thank you so much to everyone who made the 2010 rodeo a success and all those who helped me succeed at my job! I can't wait to be back next year helping out.